


Burn the City

by Lady Adain (pocketTherapist)



Category: Bleach
Genre: BAMF Kurosaki Ichigo, BAMF Urahara Kisuke, Ichigo just wants some good old-fashioned vengeance, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Oneshot, Pre-Slash, UraIchi Week 2020, Violence, i hope you do as well, in a slightly different way, look this got darker than i expected but i enjoyed it anyway, no beta we die like men, possibly slightly more than canon, violence against rocks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:13:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24450376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocketTherapist/pseuds/Lady%20Adain
Summary: "You need to leave, Kurosaki-san. The chances of this being a trap are… significant. You need to get out, while you still can."He leaves the other part unspoken, the bit where Ichigo is going to have to leave him behind, let him spend a while buying time that could not be had, with Ichigo burdened with Kisuke's broken, useless body.Ichigo smirks at him without humor."Funny. That's what I was going to say to you. Get out of the city."His face darkens, and there's something in his eyes that Kisuke has never seen before, not from this protective, kind soul."I'm going to burn it to the ground, the whole damn thing."
Relationships: Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke
Comments: 75
Kudos: 898
Collections: UraIchi Week 2020





	Burn the City

**Author's Note:**

> i finally got my brain to engage so i finished the thing i was going to do yesterday
> 
> maybe the thing i was doing for monday will go up tomorrow. hah. 
> 
> UraIchi Week 2020  
> Day 4: Twisting Canon  
> Canon Divergence AU | Pre-Canon AU | Post-Canon AU vs. Gotei 13 AU | Apocalypse/Post-Apocalypse AU Battle | War

There's a distant roar, and the world shakes around him. Kisuke lifts his head with the little strength he can muster, stretching his senses out for anything he can grasp. He can’t reach anything beyond his cell, but a second later, one of the Numeros flies past him, already halfway gone, disintegrating into dust. The roar echoes again,  _ right there _ , and Kisuke braces himself as best he can, trying uselessly to smooth his reiatsu into something less vulnerable, something that doesn't scream "trapped prey" at whatever Vasto Lorde has decided to go on a rampage in Las Noches, of all places. 

He knows Aizen will fix it soon enough, but he can't help a brief, wistful fantasy of Aizen's destruction at the hands of this attacker, regardless of what _ that _ amount of power would mean for the Shinigami realm. 

The click of claws pauses outside his cell, and Kisuke can't help the little sigh of resignation that escapes him. He knows he's supposed to endure, to hold out as long as he can and take the eventual opportunity afforded him, but he's  _ tired,  _ and just because Aizen is not Onmitsukido doesn't mean he's _ not _ good, with his intimate knowledge of the body and psyche both. 

He can't afford to fail here, though, because if he fails to take out Aizen, they will send Kurosaki after him next, and Kisuke will immolate his own eternal soul before that happens. So he grits his teeth and braces himself, prepared to  _ tear _ himself from his restraints in order to dodge, regardless of the damage to his hands. 

He doubts he'll have use of them at the end, anyway, no matter how thoroughly he's been broken. Aizen isn't a complete idiot.

There’s an inquisitive rumble, and Kisuke looks up to see a black-striped mask with vicious horns as long as his forearm, peering through the bars of the cell. Kisuke stares back, motionless--waiting, although he doesn’t quite know for what. 

A massive, clawed hand reaches down and tears the door entirely off its hinges. 

Kisuke flinches back despite himself, finely-honed instincts  _ screaming _ in the presence of a greater predator, but before he can even get the leverage to rip the first hand free, to flee or fight or die he doesn’t know, the Vasto Lorde casually pulls the chains free from where they’re embedded into sekkisekki. Unprepared to catch his own weight, and weak from his time with Aizen, Kisuke stumbles and almost falls, only to be caught by two pale human hands.

Kurosaki Ichigo scowls reassuringly down at him, the last of his mask flaking away into nothingness. 

Kisuke can’t even muster the energy to be overly surprised. It’s such an  _ Ichigo _ thing to do, raiding an enemy’s home territory without regard for consequences or obstacles. It takes him a few seconds, but the words come eventually, slipping out past cracked lips.

“My, fancy seeing you here, Kurosaki-san. May I say, I didn’t expect to--”

His voice breaks and gives out, but Ichigo seems to understand anyway. 

“Yeah, I’ve got you. Sorry I’m late; they wouldn't tell me where you were and I couldn’t find Yoruichi.”

Laughing  _ hurts _ , but Kisuke can’t help himself. 

"You need to leave, Kurosaki-san. The chances of this being a trap are… significant. You need to get out, while you still can."

He leaves the other part unspoken, the bit where Ichigo is going to have to leave him behind, let him spend a while buying time that could not be had, with Ichigo burdened with Kisuke's broken, useless body. 

Ichigo smirks at him without humor. 

"Funny. That's what I was going to say to you. Get out of the city."

His face darkens, and there's something in his eyes that Kisuke has never seen before, not from  _ this _ protective, kind soul. 

"I'm going to burn it to the ground, the whole damn thing."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In the end, they compromise. Kisuke, reunited with Benihime, remains within arms-length of an overprotective Vasto Lord hybrid (and just when the hell did  _ that _ happen?), and Ichigo keeps an eye on him as he resumes his path of destruction. 

It’s a little bit (a lot) terrifying. Even knowing that the mind behind the form is a familiar one, that Ichigo would never hurt him, it’s still unsettling to see. Ichigo tears through walls like they’re paper, shrieking his challenge to the false skies. The few Espada they see are already fleeing, removing themselves from the greater threat as fast as they possibly can. 

Ichigo shreds through another wall and they’re suddenly on the outside of Aizen’s giant monument to his ego. The rest of the city gleams in front of them, except for the massive, smoking path of rubble where Ichigo must have torn his way through to the tower at first. Kisuke glances at Ichigo’s claws and horns, and then back at the hundred-foot chasm of completely cleared space. 

The mask is frozen in a perpetual grin, but Kisuke can hear the smirk in the dual-toned voice, anyway. 

“Turns out, there’s a second level to casting a Cero. I may have figured that part out.”

That sounds suspiciously like understatement, and Kisuke allows himself a smirk of his own. It still feels a little shaky, and he wishes for his hat and fan, feeling uncomfortably exposed. It's one thing when it's Aizen, a monster recognizing another of its kind, but it's completely different, standing before Ichigo's penetrating gold eyes. He doesn't  _ want _ the boy to see him for what he is, see the inevitable horror and rejection.

Then again, this is Ichigo. He'd probably seen through to Kisuke's heart from the very beginning, since before he'd gone off to rescue Rukia.

The thought is both comforting and unsettling, and Kisuke represses a shiver that has nothing to do with the temperature. 

Their first real challenger dropping out of the sky puts a hold on that line of thought. Grimmjow Jaegerjaques smiles at Ichigo through a mouthful of fangs, his fingers clawed at his side. 

"You've been holding out on me, Kurosaki! Come on, show me what you've got."

Ichigo doesn’t even blink. He punches forward into the other’s space, almost faster than Kisuke can follow. One hand curls around the startled Numero’s throat, and then Grimmjow is being slammed back-first into a section of wall. 

“Not today, Grimmjow. I’m not here to play around. If you want to survive, get out of the city. If you stand against me, I’ll end this right now.”

The blue-haired Arrancar clearly believes him. He takes off as soon as Ichigo releases him, offering nothing more than a token snarl of defiance before he’s well on his way to leaving the city. 

Ichigo makes an odd chittering sound after the fleeing Grimmjow, almost like he’s laughing, and then resumes tearing apart the city with his own two claws. He’s working from the outside in on Aizen’s tower, taking out the support pillars. The entire thing is starting to groan dangerously, creaking and tilting, and Hollows are fleeing out the base of the tower like terrified ants. 

It’s  _ amazingly _ therapeutic. 

Aizen hasn't shown himself yet-- presumably busy with something else, more important than the invader destroying his city, but then a streak of black-green-white flashes through his vision and takes Ichigo with it, headed for the massive chunk of empty sky where Ichigo first made his entrance. 

With a tired sigh, Kisuke slips into Shunpo after them. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

He arrives to a pitched battle between monsters, despite being barely two seconds behind them. They clash a hundred times in a second, their forms blurring in the air even to Kisuke’s Shihouin-trained eyes. 

Ichigo’s opponent is one of Aizen’s most trusted lieutenants. Ulquiorra has entered his released form, dark wings and gleaming emerald eyes, and he’s faster than anyone else Kisuke has ever seen.

Except, apparently, for Ichigo, who’s meeting him blow for blow, matching speed and power and tenacity with ease. Kisuke can only watch in awe as they tear the world apart beneath them, the empty rock over Las Noches dripping into dust that trickles downwards onto the spires of the city.

Ulquiorra is raging, furious about the destruction and Ichigo’s blatant defiance of everything Aizen stands for. He enters a secondary Resurrection, and the roar of reiatsu nearly brings Kisuke to his knees. Ichigo remains more or less unaffected, the Hollow layering his voice echoing Ulquiorra with his own roar of rage and challenge.

The final clash lasts only moments, a lightning-quick exchange of ranged attacks and a punch of air in a Sonido faster than sound, and Ulquiorra dangles from Ichigo’s claws like a battered kitten, utterly spent. Ichigo shakes him once and drops him, letting the Espada fall, and then turning away completely, leaving Ulquiorra to stare after his back in bewildered exhaustion. 

Kisuke can’t hear any of their final conversation, but he kind of empathizes, anyway. Ichigo tends to have that effect on those who don’t share his worldview.

Speaking of whom, the Vasto Lorde is busy punching back through the rock ceiling guarding Las Noches. Kisuke sees his intent barely a second later, and has to hold back a (slightly hysterical, maybe) giggle. 

The holes in the rock, both from his initial entrance and his subsequent fight, cross nearly half the width of Las Noches. Ichigo is busily destroying more of it, "cutting" around the edges. 

He's going to drop a massive slab of _ rock _ onto the city. 

There's a triumphant roar, and then he and Ichigo and a stunned-silent Ulquiorra are standing midair and watching the sky fall, counting the seconds until impact. 

The resulting collision is _ deafening _ . Kisuke thinks his laugh may have mingled with Ichigo's howl, but it’s all lost in the explosion of sound, anyway, so what does it matter?

Ulquiorra is still wavering on his feet, clearly running on fumes, but he backs away from the pair anyway, his eyes bigger than Kisuke’s ever seen them. Ichigo makes that rattling chitter of a laugh again, clicking what sounds like a secondary set of teeth below the grinning mask, and turns away from where Ulquiorra is throwing desperately confused words at his back. He thinks the word  _ madman _ is used, but he can’t tell, and honestly, he’s beyond caring right now. His own adrenaline is running thin, and Ichigo still isn’t done, he thinks. At the very least, Aizen hasn’t shown yet. 

Kisuke should be a lot more worried about that than he is, and yet.

It’s hard to be properly afraid when he’s got the most powerful Vasto Lorde in memory clearing the way for him. Still, they should clear out  _ before _ Aizen returns to view the absolute  _ ruin _ of his city. In fact, as he follows Ichigo’s loping downward strides, he can see that only the Tower remains of the once-glittering buildings--and even that’s looking a little lopsided. Two of the major supports have been shattered over halfway down, and the rest of the tower is starting to lilt dangerously. Not to mention the gaping hole in the walls where Ichigo must have decided to go  _ through _ instead of around, to get to him.

Ichigo, of course, is headed straight for the tower, a Bala spinning at the tip of a clawed finger. It pierces straight through, a giant red-black wave of power that puts most Ceros to shame. 

The Cero that follows nearly takes out an entire floor on its own.

This, naturally, proves to be too much for the poor tower and the whole thing tilts sideways like from an action movie, floor after floor crashing into the rock beneath it. 

And just like that, the city doesn’t exist anymore. What little survived the initial rampage and flight had been either buried under an absolutely ridiculous slab of rock, or else crushed by the fallen tower.

It’s just a set of stone walls around a particularly interesting set of rock formations, and even that will no doubt dissipate quickly to the ever-consuming sand that carpets  _ everything _ .

And because the universe hates them, this is when Aizen shows up.

It’s actually pretty hilarious, watching his usual controlled facade be shattered by shock and rising fury. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kisuke had thought, after seeing Ulquiorra’s impressive defeat at Ichigo’s hands, that he had a good idea of Ichigo’s new capabilities.

He is vastly, incredibly wrong.

Ichigo had been  _ playing _ with Ulquiorra. 

He is definitely  _ not _ playing with Aizen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ichigo is  _ angry _ . He’s been angry for a while now, since he noticed Urahara’s disappearance and tried to inquire and got brushed aside. 

There’s no actual word for his fury when he realized where his mentor actually  _ was _ . 

Fine. If Las Noches was a city for monsters, he could be a monster.

His inner hollow had  _ laughed _ as he devoured it. 

He knows, now, more about Aizen than he’d ever thought to ask. About his own heritage, his parents, about the sword and the lurker in his soul.

There will be sorrow, later. Frustration, and regret, and betrayal. 

Later.

Now there is only rage, an icy burn that clears his head and crystallizes his mind. He’d Hollowfied before, but not like  _ this. _ It’s instinctive, easy as breathing, and only a second longer to adjust to the sharpening of every sense. 

And he’d reached out and torn a hole in the universe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aizen has-- a  _ lot _ of reiatsu. Like, what, has  _ he _ been eating souls for power? 

(he’d later learn that yes, actually, that wasn’t that far off. But at the moment, it was simply an obstacle to overcome.)

Ichigo, though. 

Ichigo has  _ more _ . 

Ichigo is a perfect trinity, a Quincy and a Hollow and a Human, and his soul has a capacity for growth that Aizen could only dream of. 

Everything in Hueco Mundo is made of something that isn’t quite reishi and isn’t quite reiryouku. To Ichigo, who can pull power from the air around him instead of feeding on souls for power, it means that he’s...effectively infinite. 

Right now he pours all his fury into his soul, channels it into a single instant, and brings his reiatsu down on Aizen like a hammer.

Aizen eats dirt. 

Ichigo isn’t laughing. 

Kisuke is--away, somewhere, and if he’s smart he’s still running, but Ichigo knows his mentor is a nosy idiot so he’s probably trying to find a vantage point, instead. 

No matter. Kisuke did his part. Ichigo will do his. 

There will be no hesitation, this time. 

Aizen pushes himself up, after a shocked moment of stillness, but Ichigo is already on top of him, shoving a taloned hand through his chest.

The madman  _ twists _ , at the last moment, and Ichigo’s claws drag rib-deep gouges across his chest instead. 

He spins just in time to take Ichigo’s cero to the face. 

For a long second, the explosion of dust and reiatsu conceals what’s happening, and then, steadily rising, 

“Shatter, Kyouka Suigetsu.”

A wave of reiatsu tears through the rubble like an omnidirectional sonic boom, clearing the airborne dust and sand in at least a mile. 

Ichigo merely bears down harder with his own spiritual pressure, knowing that the amount of energy Aizen would have to expend to maintain an illusion in this condition would be...prohibitive. 

Besides, it wasn’t like he’d seen the release itself. It was just, with Aizen, it was always better to assume vulnerability than find out otherwise later. 

Ichigo doesn’t have much of a handle on Kido, but he’s pretty sure he can pull off the energy weapons Ulquiorra was using earlier. With a thought, the energy is shaping itself in his hand, and he flings a series of them in a spreading arc towards where Aizen stands. 

Aizen leaps backwards, parrying as he can, but there’s a reason Ichigo chose this particular attack.

It’s  _ fast. _

Kyouka skitters off the first one, deflecting it, but there are two others in its wake, and the second one drives through Aizen’s shoulder and tears a deep gouge in the ground, pinning the man like a butterfly for a moment before it dissipates. 

Ichigo closes in again, Zangetsu--the katana, specifically--materializing in his hand. He’s no master swordsman. Kisuke beat the basics into him and has been training him ever since, but with their limited time, there was only so much he could do.

Luckily for him, he doesn’t need to be a master swordsman. Not when his opponent moves like he’s in water, not when Ichigo can see-smell-hear-sense a move before it starts. 

Almost lazily, thinking of the injuries on Kisuke’s wrists, Ichigo reaches out and lops off Aizen’s left hand. 

The resulting shriek is equal parts pain and surprise, and Ichigo tastes the first tinge of true fear in the would-be conqueror’s reiatsu. 

Zangetsu  _ sings _ , there’s a quick exchange of barely-blocked blows, and then Ichigo drives his blade deep into the joint of Aizen’s hip. 

It’s a  _ hilariously _ insulting move. If he’d flicked the blade an inch inward, he’d have severed the artery, but that’s not the  _ point _ . 

Ichigo might be dragging this out a little, but he has no illusions as to what Aizen had planned to do to Kisuke, and he has no reservations. 

Aizen only keeps from hitting his knees by locking what remains of the joint, but that’s not  _ enough _ , so Ichigo takes his other leg off at the knee. 

He can taste the terror oozing off the man, now, and that is a  _ little _ better, a  _ little _ closer to the exhausted, resigned fear he’d felt from Kisuke, earlier. A little closer to the panic of being helpless in the presence of a greater predator. 

Aizen scrabbles in the dirt, screaming invectives and scrambling away from him. The remaining hand, not clutched close to his chest, points Kyouka Suigetsu at him in a grip that is  _ hardly _ steady. 

He opens his mouth, his tattered reiatsu rallying and flaring.    
  


“Ban-”

Ichigo puts Zangetsu through his open mouth and up into his brain. 

The resulting explosion, as the amount of energy Aizen had stolen or absorbed dissipated instantly upon his death, nearly rivaled the destruction of Las Noches. 

If Ichigo just happened to be at the epicenter, unharmed and bathed in “edible” reiatsu--

Well, it’s not like he’s going to tell anyone, except maybe the person who watched him do it. He turns,  _ punches _ through the air, landing on a rock spire that’s the tallest thing left of the walls. Kisuke’s in Shikai, an inverted triangular kido and Benihime’s crimson energy both shielding him. 

If his eyes are a little wider than Ichigo had seen them, well. Ichigo isn’t going to tell anyone about  _ that _ , either.

He lets the Hollowfication dissipate. He can still open a Garganta, like this. He’ll get around to updating Seireitei, at some point, let them know Aizen was dead. But for now? He wants to go  _ home _ . 

“C’mon, Geta-boushi. Let’s get outta here.”

He opens his hand, offers it to Kisuke. 

Smiles.


End file.
